Shi Chengxin's work was mainly internal. He didn't have much contact with Japan, and he didn't know much about the military strength of the southwestern vassals. Most of the information he had came from semi-public information. He only knew that the shogunate ruled most of Japan, so he was not too confident in these local forces.
However, Shi Diwen, as the maker of many of Haihan's policies towards Japan, knows the inside story of the military assistance Haihan has provided to the southwestern vassals through the Sasebo base in recent years. I am afraid no one in the world knows the inside story better than him.
During this period, the local foreign military training plans and foreign military sales and trade were all signed and approved by him, and many projects were even formulated and presided over by him personally.
Shi Diwen knew exactly how many guns and cannons had been sold to these local warlords over the years, how many officers had been trained for them by using the Sasebo base, and how many already-formed combat troops each of these vassal states had.
Compared with the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled most of Japan, the territory and population of the southwestern vassals were very limited, and their overall strength was indeed much worse than that of the shogunate. But only in the military aspect, the strength of these areas that have long been supported by Haihan is not inferior to the old army of the shogunate, and some military branches are even slightly better.
The southwestern vassals followed Haihan's idea of building an army and gradually transformed the peasant armies in their hands into small but capable professional armies.
While the shogunate army still used old-fashioned matchlocks as the main firearm equipment, the southwestern vassals already had fully-organized troops equipped with flintlock guns, and began to install large-caliber artillery in the army.
Although the scale of this elite organization is very limited, in the battlefield of the firearms era, the number of troops is no longer the decisive factor. The "advanced weapons" and supporting tactics provided by Haihan are enough to make up for their disadvantage in military strength.
If they were to fight the shogunate army on the land battlefield, Shi Diwen believed that the new armies of the southwestern vassals were enough to deal with enemies several times their own.
However, there are still areas where these local armed forces are at a clear disadvantage, and that is at sea.
The expensive Haihan warship was simply a gold-eating beast for the southwestern vassals with limited economic conditions. So far, no vassal state has been able to form a fully Sinicized combat fleet on its own.
This considerable expenditure was still within the range that the shogunate, which had relatively strong financial resources, could afford. The number of warships purchased by the Tokugawa shogunate from Haihan was several times greater than that of all the southwest vassals combined.
If it weren't for Haihan's intention to control the progress of ship delivery in order to balance the military strength of both sides, the shogunate's maritime armed forces would have had an absolute advantage.
The southwestern vassals wanted to overthrow the shogunate, but they lacked the ability to fight at sea and project troops. They only had a slight advantage on the land battlefield. In this lame state, it is certainly not an easy goal to achieve something in the Japanese island chain and push all the way east to Edo Castle, two thousand miles away.
Although the shogunate had an advantage at sea, to eliminate the southwestern vassals, it was far from enough to rely on armed fleets. In the end, it would have to achieve its goal through decisive battles on land.
What's more, the shogunate now doesn't dare to send its treasure fleet to the Kyushu area. Haihan has good relations with the southwestern vassals. If the Haihan people are wrong in some way and suddenly attack the shogunate's fleet, it will be terrible. What a waste.
Shi Chengxin said suddenly: "My father's intention is to let them reach a delicate balance on the battlefield. No one can destroy anyone, and they will just keep spending it like this!" Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Yes, but this How to hold two bowls of water levelly without letting the water in the bowl spill out depends on the strength of our control.”
Regardless of whether Shi Diwen is Master Duanshui or not, after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Haihan released some rumors about his visit to Japan, all Japanese agencies in Hangzhou became busy.
For those like the Satsuma clan who got the news relatively early and had their own ships in Hangzhou, the person in charge, Shimazu Hisumichi, had already set off back to Japan that day.
However, there are only two or three companies that have their own ships. More institutions in Hangzhou do not have sea ships that can be called at any time in Hangzhou. If they want to send the news back to Japan as soon as possible, they can only go to the Qiantang River Pier to hire a large ship that can go to sea.
There are many large ships on the Qiantang River pier, but most of them have transportation tasks. As for the time-consuming and risky errand of flying across the sea to Japan, even if someone is willing to pay a high price, not every ship is willing to take it. one. What's more, if you have to travel such a long distance, it will take a certain amount of time to purchase the required supplies. It doesn't mean you can leave immediately.
The offices in Hangzhou of more than a dozen vassal states in the entire Kyushu region were anxious to find ships to go back to, and the price of ships going to sea in the market instantly increased a lot.
Although the confused ship bosses didn't know what big thing happened that made these Japanese rush back home, they certainly wouldn't let go of the opportunity that came to their doorstep and raised the price.
In just one day, the price of a chartered boat from Hangzhou to Japan increased threefold. And this is definitely a considerable expense for the institutions in Hangzhou, which do not have sufficient funds.
However, the Japanese soon discovered that almost all of the people bidding on the dock were their own peers, and it was obvious that the reasons why all parties were rushing back to Japan were the same.
So several vassal states with good relations discussed hiring a ship to share the shipping costs and then parting ways when they arrived in Japan. This would not only save money but also a lot of time.
In the end, a few ships quietly took over this lucrative business, which was unknown to the outside world. However, after the dust settled, there was no longer a group of bad guys raising prices, and the price of ships going to sea immediately returned to normal levels.
As the actual controller of Japan at this stage, the Tokugawa shogunate certainly equipped Masuyama Masato with sea ships that could be called upon at any time, and there were more than one, so he did not need to go to the dock to compete with his peers in raising prices.
However, what happened at the dock soon reached his ears, which confirmed his guess about Shi Diwen's visit plan - the Haihan people's trip was to target various vassal states in the Kyushu region. land, and deliberately concealed this arrangement from the shogunate.
If Masari Masuyama hadn't had a keen sense of smell and took the initiative to come to question Shi Diwen, then the other party would probably have pretended that nothing had happened and had no intention of informing the shogunate.
Even so, it is difficult to confirm whether Shi Diwen will include arrangements for meetings with senior shogunate officials in his itinerary. But just in case, Masato Masuyama, like other colleagues, had to send the news back home as soon as possible so that the rear could prepare early.